The Darkest Shadow
by phantomplane
Summary: Hitori had a messed up life. Her parents were killed in front of her and she was wanted at the age of ten, for murder. She was trained by rogue ninjas, who taught her to not be human. Because of this, she is an elite assassin, but then she meets a boy named Ryuu. And slowly, bit by bit, he teaches her to ber human again.


**Author's Note:**

Ok, so this is my first time doing this, so I'm probably going to mess up a few things

(such as grammer and punctuation). Also, in this story you will hear names that might

possibly be characters in Naruto already.

Almost all my characters are made up **EXCEPT**..

. Gaara (he will be in here, just you see) , possibly Naruto,

Sasuke, and Sakura. I will tell you if there are anymore. But all that aside... ENJOY! :)

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO**

Prologue:

"Don't drag your feet little one, you'll scratch up your new shoes," says my stern looking

mother as I drag my feet along the sandy roads of my equally as sandy village. I frown,

pouting slightly, and against my mother's wishes, continue dragging my feet. My mother

sighs, exasperated at my stubbornness, and continues pulling me through the bustling

crowds of our marketplace. All around me, vendors are yelling, claiming they have the best

goods, the ladies fawn over the lush fabrics of the traders, the small girls play with their new

dolls. My heart yearns to join them, but my family is too poor to afford such playthings. All

around our village flag waves, showing off my village's unusual symbol. Suddenly, my mother

stops, I crash into her, smothering my face in her dress. Then I spot my brother. He is with the

ninjas of our village, singing out praises to our gods, something they do every afternoon

. My brother was a ninja, and a great one too, even our great leader has said it! Also,

I myself was to become a ninja soon, me a seven year old girl! I sway my tiny body to the rythym

of the music. Everything is so calm and peaceful, I think to myself, I wish it could be like this forever.

Suddenly, there was a scream in the air, but was quickly silenced by the sickening sound of a knife going through flesh.

"The other villages!" a man shouts, as he runs past me, pushing me down, "They are here to kill." I had no

idea what this man was talking about and glared at him as he ran away. Satisfied, I stood up and started trying

to get the dirt out of my clothes, but as soon as I stood up, my hand was grabbed by callused, rough hands, which

dragged me through the panicked crowds.

"Stop! Who's pulling me?" I shout while trying to release the grasp this person had on me.

"What are you doing?" yelled the person. I looked up an saw my brother standing in front of me.

I looked down at our locked hands and realize that he was the one pulling me.

"Oh, sorry." I stammered, blushing. My brother sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Come on, we've got to get you out of the village." my brother said while pulling me again. We start

running, but stop suddenly when we see the armies surrounding the town. Only then do I look at the

ground. I see only red. My little body stoops down and realizes that this isn't a dream, this is blood,

new blood. I fall back and land in a puddle of that evil blood. It spatters all over me, making me look

like I'm bleeding to death. My brother helps me up and holds me tightly in a hug. "It's ok, it's ok." my

brother says while I cry tears of sorrow for the soul who once had owned the blood that was now spattered

all over me. I push my brother away and look around me, with new eyes. I see a woman who goes crazy as

she rocks her dead baby, as if it was still alive and crying. She shushes it and kisses it on the head. On the

other side of the street, there is a legless man. He drags himself, weeping and trailing blood behind him. I

realize only now how ignorant I have been.

"We have to get out of here," I tell him calmly. He nods his head and stares at me through his watery green

eyes like a lost child. However, he musters up a soft smile.

"Come," he says, taking my hand. " You wil run into the woods while I distract the soldiers, okay?"

I shake my head yes and follow behind him, silently. The screams and cries of the people still pound in my ears and

I grab them with my bloody hands in a childish attempt to silence them, but they only grow louder and louder until I

feel as if my eardrums would burst. 'Woosh,' I hear a noise ring beside my face, like something was flung across my face.

At first, I think nothing of it, but then I feel the intense pain as I clutch my bloody cut. "Run!" my brother yells," Hurry!"

We run quickly to the nearest woods in a desperate attempt to flee our pursuer. But we stop, we stop in front of the thick

green forest full of mysteries and beasts. I shudder and my brother holds me tightly in a hug.

"Well, if isn't a little brat and her scaredy cat of an older brother." says a deep voice behind us. I turn around and

stare with fearful eyes at this threatening ninja. He looked familiar, but I didn't know him. "Looks like I know who I have to kill

next." he smiles, no sneers at us. My brother looks down at my quivering body and kneels down, looking me straight

in the eye."

"Take this." he says while untying his forehead protector. He hands it to me silently. I hold it reverently, my brother has almost never

taken this off, let alone let anyone touch it.

"But, it's yours!" I protest through my tears of water and blood. My brother smiles sadly, a smile of knowing a dark secret

or a smile of knowing your death has come. He faces the stranger, who smirks at the sight of my brother's bravery.

" On the count of three, you run okay?" he says under his breath. I nod my head no, but my protests are ignored.

"Run and climb to the top of the highest tree."

"No! I'll fight!" I stubbornly say, glaring at him with my green eyes, unfortunantly, my efforts are ignored.

"One." he says gravely, staring at his opponent sadly. I shake my head wildly, sending my brown hair flying

everywhere. "Two." he now gets into a defensive position. His opponent is staring at me inquiringly and

smirks. "Three." he runs at his opponent in a fearsome fury. I stand there and stare, dumbfounded. "Run!

I'll come for you!" he screams over his shoulder. Out of my daze, I sprint into the woods at full speed, still crying.

I quickly climb the tallest tree I can find. I scrape myself, but is otherwise, okay. I sit on a wide branch, the forehead

protector clutched in my hand, and I wait.

After two sundowns ( two days have passed), I feel great thirst. My brother has still not showed up, so I wait some

more. Finally on the fourth day, I couldn't take it anymore. My child's body needed food and water. Suddenly,

all around me, things started to spin. Then I felt nothing under me, no branch, nothing. I had fallen off the tree

branch in my state of weakness. Then I hit the ground. With I large thus, I heard the cracking of bones. I was slowly fading

away, but through my closing eyes, I could see a lady with a long cloak and a wooden staff smiling at me with an evil

glint in her eye. And then all went black.


End file.
